Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I urge the Minister to bring forward a job protection plan. Some of the money for new job creation could be refocused to protect existing jobs. Some of the grants and supports that come through the enterprise boards are only for new jobs. Most people in work want to try to keep their jobs, so some of that finance should be rebalanced and refocused.

It is not sustainable to have 300,000 plus people on the dole. The total is heading for 400,000 fast. Labour initiatives are needed to get some of those people back to work. It could be cost neutral if some of the people concerned were to be employed in fixing council housing stock and community buildings, doing up bus stations and working in voluntary community groups. Some of those costs can be offset against capital borrowings. It would make good economic sense rather than spending €20,000 per person. It is not right or sustainable so it must be tackled. With respect, we have been offering solutions since this time last year.

Many small and medium enterprises are experts in their business fields, but they are not experts in finance, debt management or employment law. We need a scheme, similar to that in the United Kingdom, which would make professionals available to help such enterprises to compile business plans to avoid the current problems. They should be able to obtain finance for their businesses from the banks. There are plenty of retired people on big pensions who could be deployed to guide such enterprises through these difficult times, so the Minister should examine that possibility.

It is a shame that the foreign aid budget has been cut by €95 million, although I understand why the Minister had to do it. Some public service sectors are overstaffed due to cutbacks in agriculture and other areas. Could the Minister offer a voluntary scheme so that some public servants could work in developing countries for three, six, nine or 12 months? In that case, their wages would be offset against foreign aid, so it would be cost neutral and might bring in savings. In that way, some departmental employees could be working in the foreign aid sector abroad, including African countries. That would save us money as well as providing valued experience in agriculture, health and finance to developing countries. There are many ways in which money could be saved with a bit of imagination. I can assure the Minister that we have plenty of ideas.

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